Angels and Spirits

Do you believe in angels? Many people do. 

Do you believe angels are beautiful young white women with long blond hair and wings? I call those angels "greeting card angels." Or do you think angels walk among us and can look like any person of any age, any sex, and any race?

I knew a man who claimed to be an angel. He never said anything to me about being an angel. But after he died, I found out about his angel traits from his wife. His name was Ralph. He was married five times, and his last wife was Nuria. Nuria is Costa Rican.

When Ralph was sixteen, he got his high school sweetheart pregnant, so he dropped out of high school to support his new wife and baby. He got a job working on a loading dock. He was smart and hard working, and he worked his way up to Plant Manager, then to Director of Manufacturing, then to Vice President of Manufacturing. He was making a six figure salary when he retired at age 45, but he became bored and began working at various "small" jobs to pass the time. When I met him, he was working at a call center in Costa Rica. I Skyped with him every day. That is how I met his fifth wife, Nuria.

I recognized and envied his intelligence and common sense. I could understand how he became a success in various jobs. Ralph was an alcoholic and he drank vodka straight from the bottle. I warned him several times that he was risking throat cancer, and I told him to mix his vodka with water. But he continued drinking it 80 proof. He died from throat cancer in 2020.

After Ralph's death, Nuria and I began Skyping. We both lived alone and we enjoyed our conversations. She began telling me a little bit about Ralph.

I don't have the space on a blog post to write about all the many things Ralph did that one could attribute to an angel, but I'll give a few examples.

One of Nuria's female relatives was trying to get pregnant, and she had already miscarried three times. Then she got pregnant again, but was fearful of another miscarriage. Ralph placed his hand on her stomach as if to sense something inside her. Then he told her that this time she would have a healthy baby and it would be a boy. In fact, she did give birth to a healthy baby boy.

A lucky guess?

One day, Nuria had to leave work and come home in the middle of the day because she was bleeding heavily and the bleeding wouldn't stop. Ralph arrived home a few minutes later. He found Nuria in the bathroom. He told her to stand up, and he placed his hand on her abdomen. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.

A lucky coincidence? 

Ralph would sometimes have spells in which he spoke in a foreign language. He wrote in his Bible in ancient Greek. Sometimes he would enter into a "spell" and he would speak ancient Greek, and sometimes Hebrew—languages he had never studied and which he never spoke in his ordinary life.

Ralph claimed to be an angel, but never discussed it with anyone besides Nuria. He said his angel name was Raphael. The Bible's Old Testament mentions the archangel Raphael, one of the seven archangels.  Rafael is also called the angel of healing. Ralph told Nuria that reincarnation is real and that this lifetime would be his last incarnation on Earth.

Ralph was also a spirit medium; he could bring spirits to him and let the spirits talk through him. Nuria told me she spoke with his uncle and his grandfather, and her father and her grandmother, among others. Ralph's grandfather used to smoke Lucky Strike cigarettes, and Nuria said that his spirit always insisted that Ralph smoke Lucky Strikes while his spirit was communicating through Ralph's body.

Nuria has told me so much that I suggested she write a book. I know it would be fascinating to many people. I'm not really a writer. I'm a blogger, and an amateur writer, and there's a difference. Plus, there are many things Ralph spoke of that Nuria doesn't want to reveal. I guess she feels that most people are not ready to hear some of the things Ralph said.

Before closing this blog post, I will add that I've been interested in life-after-death, reincarnation, after-death communications (ADCs), and stories of human encounters with angels for most of my life. So listening to Nuria's stories of Ralph's encounters with the world of spirits was naturally intriguing to me. As for reincarnation, I have a few personal stories. One of them is on this blog, and it's titled Samsara, and was published in 2014.

Some books that I've read on the subject of angels, spirits, life after death, and ADCs are listed below. The titles in bold print are books I consider must-reads on the subject.

After the Light - Kimberly Clark Sharp
Children of the Light - Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger
Touched by Heaven’s Light - Brad Steiger and Sherry Hansen Steiger
To Touch the Light - Kevin D. Randle
Parting Visions - Melvin Morse, M.D.
Life After Life - Raymond A. Moody, Jr., M.D.
Reflections on Life After Life - Raymond A. Moody, Jr., M.D.
Saved by the Light - Danien Brinkley with Paul Perry
On Life After Death - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Afterlife - Carol Neiman and Emily Goldman
Mary T. Reflects on the Other Side - Mary T. Browne
Adventures in Immortality - George Gallup, Jr.
Transformed by the Light - Melvin Morse with Paul Perry
Returning From the Light - Brad Steiger
Death’s Door - Jean Ritchie
Closer to the Light - Melvin Morse
Angels - Paola Giovetti
A Book of Angels - Sophy Burnham
Where Angels Walk - Joan Wester Anderson
Angel Letters - Sophie Burnham
Touched By Angels - Eileen Elias Freeman
Hello from Heaven - Bill and Judy Guggenheim
To Dance With Angels - Don and Linda Pendleton
The Light Beyond - Raymond A. Moody, Jr., M.D.
Through Time Into Healing - Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
Many Lives, Many Masters - Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
Only Love Is Real - Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
The Eagle and the Rose - Rosemary Altea
Journey of Souls - Michael Newton, Ph.D.
Many Mansions - Gina Cerminara